Monday, June 01, 2009

Doctors Who Performed Abortions In Nazi Germany Faced Death Penalty

By MARC McDONALD

If you browse an anti-abortion Web site, or listen to an anti-abortion activist these days, you'll encounter plenty of references to Nazi Germany.

For example, on Monday, Randall Terry, founder of the Operation Rescue said: "I believe George Tiller was one of the most evil men on the planet; every bit as vile as the Nazi war criminals who were hunted down, tried, and sentenced after they participated in the 'legal' murder of the Jews that fell into their hands."

Terry is hardly alone in his extremist views. For example, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly often demonized slain doctor George Tiller and said he was guilty Of "Nazi stuff."

Which raises a question: where did Hitler himself stand on abortion? Actually, he opposed it.

In fact, in their first year of power, in 1933, the Nazis outlawed abortion.

As Gloria Steinem pointed out in 1982, a flaw "in the fervent condemnations of pro-choice advocates as Nazis is that Hitler himself, and the Nazi doctrine he created, were unequivocally opposed to any individual right to abortion."

Steinem notes: "Under Hitler, choosing abortion became sabotage; a crime punishable by hard labor for the woman and a possible death penalty for the abortionist."

Hmmm, let me see: a "death penalty for the abortionist."

Some things really haven't changed much since 1933. Back then, it was the Nazis condemning "abortionists" to death. Today, it's the extremist, hate-filled evangelical "Christian" bigots whose twisted rhetoric is encouraging violence against doctors who practice abortion.

15 comments:

I never got very far reading Mein Kamph because Hitler was a lousy writer, but I remember that he was opposed to abortion and any birth control at all because he thought children would toughen up if they had to fight their siblings for crumbs.

I am not a fan of abortion in the least, but the murder of Dr. Tiller was unforgivable and hypocritical. To snuff a living and functioning person's life for something he did you didn't approve of without even holding so much as a trial is un-American. The types of extremists who shot him in 1993 and just killed him now are not "pro life"; they belong to the culture of death. They are no better than what they characterized Dr. Tiller to be. It is no accidental coincidence they share Nazi methodology.

Abortionists deserve death unfortunately our legal system is populated by those who want them to stick around to murder the poor and disenfranchised minorities in this country. Are they nazis? Of course not! Nazis had a much more rugged moral code.

The second half of that, of course, is that the Nazis were all for killing those they deemed "undesirable." (I wrote a post on the Nazi T4 euthanasia program last year, although the video segment has unfortunately been yanked.) The common thread is they wanted the power of life and death over all citizens.

What can we do about it except advocate the killing of crazy Christians and that seems like just becoming one of them under another name, claiming "I'm so right that I'm allowed to murder all my enemies!"

Funny how right-wing extremism sounds the same no matter what year it is or whatever brand name is slapped upon it. Funny how the same people who hate abortion are the ones that won't do a thing for mentally disabled children or rape victims, and justify economic Darwinism, class warfare, and war as a solution to poverty instead of education, energy independence, and a fair market economy. Welcome to the new Dark Age people, enjoy...

BTW, if you ever want to quickly shut up an "Outlaw All Abortions" advocate, ask him a quick question: "What about rape, incest and to save the mother's life?"

This question should be asked over and over to these asswipes. It should be in their face all the time. If a politician claims to be "Pro-Life," then he should face this question over and over, from the media and the public.

The Repukes are the ones who politicized abortion in the first place. No GOP politician should be able to get away with a glib "I oppose abortion" without this question being constantly tossed into his or her face.

The bottom line is abortion is a highly complex issue and, in many cases, there is no clear "right" and "wrong."

If these bastards really believe all abortion is murder, then let's call their bluff. If it's murder, then women who have abortions (by the "Pro-Lifer" logic) are murderers. If a 12-year-old girl is raped by her father and becomes pregnant, then let's charge her with murder if she has an abortion.

Let's call the bluff of these "Pro-Life" asswipes and throw these difficult questions in their face at every turn. I'm so goddamn sick and tired of these smug "I have a direct line to God and I have all the answers" bastards.

I think you've hit the nail squarely on the head, Marc. Clearly, abortion is a case of where an ounce of prevention is worth a thousand tons of cure. Yet many of these "pro-lifers" even oppose sex education and the dispensation of condoms in our schools.Foolish people indeed. Sexual morality can and should be taught, but boys will be boys and girls will be girls. So it would be far better to provide needed education and protection rather than place someone in the position of having an unplanned pregnancy. But I guess these "pro lifers" think it is far more advantageous to ruin young girls' lives and have them wind on on AFDC and welfare. I will NEVER understand the conservative mind!

My understanding of the Roe v. Wade ruling is that not all abortions are the same under current law.

In the first trimester, it's entirely the prospective mother's choice. It's creepy to see an aborted fetus even at this stage, but at that point they really aren't even as developed as a dog (and thousands of those abandoned creatures are slain daily in pounds).

In the second trimester, restrictions apply. I don't recall all of them offhand, but the prospective mother has to jump through hoops to get an abortion.

In the third trimester -- Dr. Tiller was one of the few providers in the U.S. still doing this -- it has to be something rather hideous, like an operation to save the mother's life, or a baby that would be like, born without a face, and die horribly in a matter of days or weeks, etc.

Dr. Tiller, from what I understand, specialized in the third-trimester cases, involving horrific birth defects. I suppose that is why he doggedly kept going, even after having been shot twice already and enduring lots of bomb threats.

Actually, Hitler promoted abortions for all others besides his Aryan race. He overturned the abortion restrictions in Poland and encouraged abortion for Polish women through propaganda stating that its a freedom of choice issue. Other propaganda stated that it helped people live more financially sound etc etc.

So yeah, you are partially correct that Hitler opposed abortion, but only ro further his agenda of establishing a superior race.

Now please tell me I am a moronic, right winged nut case who has no respect for the rights of women. Even though you have no idea who I am.

re:>>Now please tell me I am a>>moronic, right winged nut case>>who has no respect for the>>rights of women. Even though you>>have no idea who I am.

Well that would depend on whether you accept the GOP's current crazy stance on abortion (banning it in all cases, including rape, incest and to save the mother's life). This is, by the way, the official GOP platform's stance on abortion.

One of my big problems with the anti-abortion crowd is that they see this whole complex issue in simple black-and-white terms."All abortion is bad," they say, as they pat themselves smugly on the back for being "pro-life."But the fact is, the issue isn't that simple.The anti-abortion crowd claims to be "pro life." And yet they don't have any sympathy in cases where a doctor says an abortion must be performed to save the mother's life."Pro-life," my ass.

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About This Blog

Welcome to BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com, the progressive political blog of Marc McDonald. A Texas journalist, McDonald worked for 15 years for several newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, before he quit his day job and set up shop in cyberspace in 1995. McDonald's articles have appeared in a number of popular progressive Web sites, including Crooks and Liars, The Reaction, Buzzflash.com, Salon.com, OpEdNews.com, The Neil Rogers Show and The Raw Story. McDonald's Web articles have also been featured and reviewed by various national and international media, including CNN Headline News, the BBC, CBS, the Washington Post, USA Today and many more. On June 3, 2011, I was interviewed on the progressive radio program, "Voices at Work." Go here to hear my interview with host Ron Gonyea. I am always available for media interviews on progressive issues. Contact me here.